Zeng Xiangquan's Discussion on Solving Employment Contradictions: Some majors should consider not offering undergraduate programs

On September 9th, there was a surge of people at the first technology talent recruitment fair, and many young job seekers arrived early to communicate with corporate HR and even "AI interviewers". Meanwhile, at the 2023 China International Human Capital Management Forum held opposite the job fair, employment was also a hot topic of discussion among experts and scholars.

What is the current employment situation? How should universities cultivate versatile talents? What are the other paths to take to promote high-quality and full employment? Regarding these topics, Zeng Xiangquan, director of the China Employment Research Institute at Renmin University of China, gave an interview to reporters.

A more profound issue is the contradiction between quality and structure

Zeng Xiangquan: When it comes to employment, we can discuss it from three dimensions: quantity, quality, and structure. At present, there are both aggregate and structural issues in employment, with the latter actually being more prominent.

In terms of quantity, from the current employment population and job market in China, the pressure is not very high. Because from the sixth national population census to the seventh national population census, the cumulative decline in China's labor force over the past 10 years has been nearly 40 million, and the supply has significantly decreased. So although the demand in the labor market is currently shrinking due to economic downturn and cyclical fluctuations, overall, the decrease in labor supply caused by population changes has to some extent alleviated the pressure on total employment.

The structural contradiction mainly manifests as the coexistence of "difficulty in employment" and "difficulty in recruitment". With the adjustment of economic structure, the structure of labor demand is undergoing profound changes, while the changes on the supply side are relatively slow. For example, China is accelerating its entry into an aging society, and there is a huge demand for job positions in the life service industry. However, the corresponding supply has not yet caught up, and there is still a large employment gap in industries such as home economics and nursing.

In recent years, society's attention to the quality of employment has also been continuously increasing. The report of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed to "promote the realization of higher quality employment", and the report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China further clarified "promote high-quality and full employment". The quality of employment involves wages, working hours, and social security, which need to be improved through increasing job opportunities and increasing worker income, expanding the coverage of social insurance, and increasing job stability.

So in the short term, due to the current recovery period of China's economy, the issue of employment quantity may be quite eye-catching; But in the long run, the quality of employment and structural contradictions are the more profound issues.

Universities should be guided by ability cultivation

Zeng Xiangquan: The fourth industrial revolution characterized by big data, artificial intelligence and mobile Internet has had a great impact on the labor market, forming new industries and new jobs. What we need most now is to cultivate versatile talents, not singular talents.

Our original education system was based on the Soviet system, with very detailed specialization. For example, economics includes theoretical economics and applied economics, among which applied economics is further divided into national economy, industrial economy, international trade, regional economy, etc. However, many foreign universities only have one economics, which is not so detailed. Some majors may consider not having a bachelor's degree. For example, many foreign universities do not offer majors such as law and management during their undergraduate studies, and students only study these after completing their undergraduate studies.

At the same time, we have overlooked some basic abilities that should be developed as early as possible. For example, plaintext writing is a compulsory course in top foreign universities such as Harvard, but it is rarely offered in domestic universities, and the writing level of our students really needs to be improved.

Nowadays, the employment pressure for college graduates is high, which forces schools to accelerate the pace of disciplinary adjustments, which is a good thing. Discipline adjustment is not just about changing names, but also changing content. Universities should be guided by ability cultivation, rather than simply knowledge cultivation. We have seen many universities undergoing disciplinary adjustments, such as canceling a batch of undergraduate majors and adopting interdisciplinary paths, which are all encouraging explorations.

Enterprises need to improve their human resource management level

Zeng Xiangquan: The quality of employment depends not only on individual workers, but also on enterprises and society.

High employment quality means that workers have a high ability to create value. McKinsey has conducted interviews with human resources directors of over 70 multinational corporations and concluded that China is facing difficulties in human resources. They found that China trains 1.6 million young engineers every year, nine times the number in the United States, but only 10% meet the language and skill requirements of multinational corporations. For example, China is currently facing a serious shortage of skilled talents. So it is important for workers to improve their employability and work ability.

On the other hand, it is also crucial for enterprises to improve their human resource management level and provide professional training and promotion channels for employees. In some well-known foreign companies, the career development path of employees is very clear, and they are very clear about what shortcomings to overcome and what abilities to improve. On the other hand, many domestic enterprises have a low level of human resource management, which leads to employees not knowing how to improve and develop after entering. In mature enterprise organizations, all management measures and institutional norms should be conducive to the improvement of people and work performance, so as to improve the professional quality and ability of talents.

In addition, there is still a certain degree of employment discrimination in society, which also affects the quality of employment. We must resolutely eliminate employment discrimination in the labor market, such as gender discrimination, age discrimination, educational discrimination, etc., and improve the Employment Promotion Law. We also need to support and regulate the platform economy, enhance the standardization and scientificity of human resource management, improve social security for platform employment, strengthen the construction of human resource data platforms, and promote the development of new economy, new formats, and new employment.